


Dirty Little Secrets and Power

by Diary



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Background Relationships, Bechdel Test Fail, Canon Character of Color, Canon Gay Character, Canon Queer Character, Disturbing Themes, Established Cyrus Beene/Tom Larsen, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Minor Charlie/Quinn Perkins, Romance, Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 14:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6663046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“My situation and yours are nothing alike.” Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dirty Little Secrets and Power

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Scandal.

Peeking through the peephole, Tom opens the door. “Ms Pope.”

Coming inside, she looks at the messy bed and sits down in one of the armchairs. “What are you going to do once the election is over?”

“You didn’t come to ask me that.”

Nodding, she acknowledges, “I didn’t. Jake needs help with something. What would be your price?”

“Why wouldn’t you get Huck or even Charlie?”

“Huck is grounded, and if you say no, we start looking for Charlie.”

“He’s sleeping and living with Quinn Perkins. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that.”

“I knew that. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a life of his own. Three days ago, he flew off to some European country. I will start showing the necessary amount of concern about him after I don’t have more pressing matters to deal with.”

“What does Jake need?”

“Dirt on his wife’s family,” she answers.

He makes a sound. “It’s always impressed me how you can say such things. It’s as if you were in on the joke with everyone else.”

“I’d say you’re one to talk,” she replies, “but that would be giving you more credit than you deserve. If it weren’t for the fact I care about Cyrus, I’d almost hope you were doing all this on my father’s orders. I don’t think he was happy about Jake touching me, but he was happy enough to take advantage of the fact he did. Since I do care about Cyrus, I’m forced to feel bad for you, Tom.”

“My situation and yours are nothing alike.”

“True,” she agrees. “I’ve never been anyone’s second best. That’s all you are.”

Standing up, she smiles at him. “Even if there were no Michael or Ella, you’d still be sleeping in hotel rooms. You’d still never be welcome in his actual bed. Oh, and if James were still in the picture, we both know he’d probably just stick to Charlie. What you have on Charlie is that you provide special perks.”

“He isn’t paying me for-”

“If you genuinely like him, yes, he is,” she interrupts. “You do a good job, and he rewards you with his happiness. With touching you. It’s not a hardship. In fact, I imagine it’s something he really wants to do. He gets a job well done and a devoted, young man in a hotel bed. And just like me, you get to be a dirty little secret.”

“But here’s the difference, Tom: I never had to be one. I chose not to ruin Fitz’s marriage and his political career. I chose to be his mistress. I wouldn’t have had to give him an ultimatum. If I’d said, I want to be with you in the light, I want to live with you openly, I want to marry you, he would have divorced Mellie, given up his political ambitions, and had me in our bed at night and holding my hand in public during the day in the blink of the eye. And you know I’m right, because, you saw what happened after I did tell the world the truth.”

“Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking you have a fraction of that sort of power, Tom. He’d choose a man who helped blackmail him and that he married purely to keep his job over you with no hesitation. Not because he loves Michael, not even because he has Ella’s wellbeing in mind, but because he doesn’t love you. I’d like to hope Cyrus could fall in love again someday, that James only managed to take a large part of his heart with him instead of the whole thing. If he does, though, do you really think it could be with someone like you? Compare yourself to both James and Michael. If you’re honest with yourself, I think you’ll see how, putting aside the fact neither of them ever killed an innocent child, there are some large differences between you and them.”

“Give me Jake’s number,” he says. “If I help him, it’s on the condition I don’t have to deal with you.”

“We have your number. He’ll call you,” she says. “Don’t worry, he’ll do it when you won’t have to worry about Cyrus getting suspicious.”

“Let me guess: If he were suspicious, it’d be about my taking jobs from the enemy, not about who else I might be sleeping with.”

“Your words, Tom, not mine,” she says.

Opening the door, she leaves.

…

When Cyrus comes in, he tells Tom, “Ella has a sleepover, and Michael’s having drinks with some friends after class. Alex seems to be focused on Olivia for the moment. If they end up sleeping together, I don’t know whether I want to use this or try and, let’s be honest, probably fail at stopping her from getting entangled with another unsuitable man.”

Cyrus kisses him, and Tom responds before pulling back. “Not tonight.”

Surprise flickers across Cyrus’s face, but he nods. “Okay.” Hesitating, he asks, “Do you want me to go home?”

“No,” Tom quickly answers. Reaching over, he takes Cyrus’s hand and begins tracing it with his fingers. “Stay. Please.”

“Okay,” Cyrus agrees.

…

After Cyrus falls asleep, Tom unwraps himself from around him, gets out of bed, and goes over to Cyrus’s side.

Picking up Cyrus’s wallet, he takes it to the bathroom, closes the door, and turns on the lights.

Opening the wallet, he sees two pictures: One is of James Novak holding baby Ella in his arms, and the other is a wedding picture of Michael Ambruso with Ella sitting in his lap. In the latter, Olivia is standing behind Michael and looking down at Ella with a warm expression.

Closing the wallet, Tom leaves the bathroom, puts it back on the nightstand, and goes back over to his side.

Crawling back under the covers, he curls up back around Cyrus, and without waking up, Cyrus brings a hand up to Tom’s arm and wraps around it.

Tom stares at the wedding ring for a long moment, then, closes his eyes, and presses more firmly against Cyrus.

…

“Helen of Troy,” Tom greets.

Sighing, Olivia looks outside before closing her office door. “What are you doing here, Tom?”

“I was helping Jake. I thought I’d wait until you came back before leaving.”

“Why?”

“You were only partially right,” he informs her. “We’re both dirty little secrets. You had more power in your relationship than I have in mine. But the real difference between us is that, whatever you think your father is, you think you have divinity running through you. I know that Cyrus and I are both mortal men.”

“I’d never hurt Ella, but if she were hurt, I would try to help him. I would be there for him. You once said that it was Jerry’s death that drove my president to try to kill himself, not you leaving, and maybe you’re right, but if you hadn’t left, he might have been able to manage that pain better. Instead, the supposed love of your life has his child killed, and you not only don’t try to be there for him personally, you don’t even try to dig deeper. Why Jerry instead of Karen or baby Teddy? How exactly did your mother secure such a highly guarded biohazardous strain? When and how did she manage to introduce it into his system? Why was your friend, another mortal named Harrison Wright, suddenly missing?”

“If you’d tried to find out any of these answers, you might have found out what I did. You didn’t. Jake Ballard did, and he largely did because of reasons involving you.”

“But,” he finishes, “you had most of the power. To most people, caring about someone means that you stay even when you have no power and have to suffer yourself while you try to be there and ease the pain while they’re suffering. It doesn’t mean going off to an island before your lover even has a chance to put his dead child in the ground.”

She takes a shaky breath and nods. “‘I have a message from Command.’ Better you hear it from me than my father. He never tried to kill you, Tom. I hoped you wouldn’t die, but I paid that guard to make it messy and painful.”

“He will come, Tom. And short of having you killed, this was my best shot at protecting Cyrus. Now, when my father draws you back, just like he’s done Huck and Jake, I hope Cyrus- Let’s hope for both of our sakes but especially Cyrus’s that he doesn’t want Cyrus hurt or worse. That he doesn’t want you to do it. You care for him, you might even love him, but even if Cyrus could and was willing to give you absolutely everything you wanted and needed, I don’t like his chances against my father when he’s trusting a B6-13 agent enough to fall asleep next to him.”

Chuckling mirthlessly, she adds, “When it comes to Fitz, I can’t defend what I did. But I will say that, sometimes, when you love someone, it truly is the best thing to leave them. It might hurt them and break you, but in the long run, it’s the best thing you can do for them.”

She opens the door.

He walks out.

…

With a box of candy in hand, Charlie lets himself into Tom’s hotel room. Through his mouthful, he announces, “So, hey, you’ll never believe this: Command is dead. A sniper took him out last night.” Swallowing, he continues, “Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, Cyrus is trying to subtly feel out if you might be seeing someone besides him. He’s, uh, not very good at it. That said, if you’re not, maybe don’t go completely off-grid for a large chunk of the night again.”

Quietly, Tom asks, “Are you here to kill me?”

“Nah,” Charlie answers. He pops down on an armchair. “Tell you the truth, I was always a little worried about Robin with him still running around. And hey, I’m the first to admit that my part in all this was being able to kill and torture people and get paid to do it, but it always seemed to me that a republic should, you know, actually be a republic. Meaning, more-or-less, everyone has a say in how this country goes, not: There’s this top-secret organisation running everything and controlling the citizens of one of the supposedly freest nations on the planet.”

“But,” he finishes his candy, “I am here to make sure whoever popped Rowan isn’t going after the rest of us.”

“If anyone ever puts a price on Cyrus or his family, maybe don’t take it,” Tom says. “And I’d personally appreciate a warning. Otherwise, I don’t care what the rest of us do.”

“Got it,” Charlie says. “Wait, actually, just to clarify: His family includes who all? The kid, I’m assuming. What about the hubby?”

“Him, too,” Tom says. “He’s someone Cyrus can trust with her.”

“Alright. Same deal with Robin?”

“Same deal,” Tom confirms.

…

“You’re quiet,” Tom comments. Before Cyrus can respond, Tom continues, “Charlie told me you were trying to figure out where I was last night. I killed Rowan.”

Jumping slightly, Cyrus peers at him. “That was- well, that makes sense. Why- why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“I didn’t know how you’d feel about it, and I didn’t want you to worry,” Tom answers. “Sorry if this messes up your plans.”

“No, it makes a lot of them much simpler,” Cyrus replies. “I still wish you’d told me, though. Why did you decide to do it?”

“Rowan got into my head when I was five years old. And for most of my life, I was fine with not having real choices or freedom. After I got out of supermax, I realised I’d always be more comfortable following someone else’s lead, but this time, I was going to choose who. I couldn’t risk him getting back in my head and taking that away.”

Cyrus nods. “That’s understandable. However, if you ever want to leave, just tell me. I’ll cut my losses.”

“I don’t see myself wanting to leave anytime soon,” Tom tells him. “Do you need to get home tonight?”

“Yes,” Cyrus answers. “But not for another few hours.”

Tom starts to take off his socks. “I can go take a shower now and crawl into bed, or I can crawl into bed now and take my shower after you leave. Which sounds more agreeable to you?”

Putting his papers aside, Cyrus stands up and moves over. “Me crawling into bed with you right now.” He leans down and kisses Tom.  

Tom deepens the kiss and pulls Cyrus onto the bed.


End file.
